Age no barrier to the best

Former Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulka. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

What were you doing when you were 14? Vaibhav Suryavanshi was thrashing a 35-ball century in the Indian Premier League this week. There is nothing quite as exciting as a prodigy in sport. Hayden Meikle looks at some who went on to great things and some who struggled.

The God tier

Sachin Tendulkar

Cricket immortal

The oil: Just 16 when he made his test debut for India against Pakistan. Went on to become the biggest star in cricket history, worshipped by hundreds of millions. Finished with 15,921 test runs (average 53.78) and 18,426 ODI runs (44.83) and 100 international tons. Halfway through his career, Wisden rated him the best batter since the Don. Hard to disagree.

LeBron James

Greatest since MJ

The oil: Graced the cover of Sports Illustrated — ‘‘The chosen one’’ — while still at high school. He is the NBA’s all time leading scorer, has won four championships with three different teams and has three Olympic gold medals. Still playing aged 40. You will not see his like again.

Pele

Football royalty

The oil: Nicknamed ‘‘O Rei’’ (the king) when he won the World Cup with Brazil in 1958 at the age of 15. Also won the World Cup in 1962 and 1970. Allegedly scored 1279 goals in 1363 games. The IOC named him athlete of the 20th century, and he was widely regarded as the greatest player in the world’s greatest sport until that chap Messi came along.

Michael Phelps

Super fish

The oil: Made his Olympic debut in the pool in Sydney aged 15. Swam at four more Games and finished as the most decorated Olympian of all time with a staggering 28 medals. Also got interviewed at Moana Pool by me, but that only needs to be mentioned five or six times a year.

Serena Williams shows her power in 2003. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Serena Williams

Making a racket

The oil: Turned professional at 14 and won the US Open at 18. Finished with a staggering 23 grand slam singles titles, 14 grand slam doubles titles and four Olympic gold medals. Revolutionised the game, became the highest-earning female athlete of all time and was world sportswoman of the year a record four times.

Tiger Woods

Golfing GOAT

The oil: Picked up a club before he turned 2, appeared on the That’s Incredible! TV show at 5, broke 80 aged 8, won four consecutive world junior titles, was US junior amateur champion at 15, played his first Masters at 19, and announced himself to the world when he won the Masters at 21. Has 15 major wins and 82 wins on the PGA Tour. Scandals and car crashes derailed him slightly, but at his peak he was the most dominant athlete in the history of sport.

Jonah Lomu

Runaway train

The oil: Our youngest All Black at 19 years, 45 days. You know the rest.

Nadia Comaneci

Graceful gymnast

The oil: It is a sport for young ‘uns, granted, but Comaneci still stunned the sporting world when she became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 with a routine at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, aged 14. Finished with nine Olympic medals and four world championship medals.

The strong tier

Lydia Ko checks her phone at The Hills in 2013. PHOTO: ODT FILES

Lydia Ko

New Zealand golf great won her first professional tournament at 14 and was No1 by 17. Has three major wins, three Olympic medals and a damehood.

Boris Becker

German tennis player won Wimbledon at 17 and finished with six grand slam singles titles and two Davis Cups.

Martina Hingis

Swiss tennis player made her professional debut at 14 and had three grand slam singles titles by 17.

Sidney Crosby

Canadian ice hockey player was labelled ‘‘The Next One’’. Won three Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals.

The battler tier

Freddy Adu

American footballer was called ‘‘the next Pele’’ when he signed for an MLS team aged 14. Spoiler alert: he was not.

Daneka Wipiiti

New Zealand netballer played in the old National Bank Cup aged 15 and had a brief career with the Silver Ferns.

Emma Raducanu

British tennis player stunned the world with her US Open victory in 2021. Has since basically flamed out.

Jack Wilshere

Arsenal footballer became his club’s youngest player at 16. Played 34 games for England but career never really hit great heights.

Luke Littler. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Toe Nash

Not just here for his great name. The American baseballer and high school dropout was plucked out of a semi-pro league but ran into various legal troubles before he could go any further.